Body mounted camera system for monitoring deliveries

ABSTRACT

A delivery monitoring system comprises a portable camera positioned on a delivery person; a camera activation application executed by a mobile electronic device to control a video-generating operation of the portable camera; and a special-purpose processor that outputs a data instruction to an electronic locking device to unlock an entrance to a location for delivering an item by the delivery person only when the portable camera is recording video.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This invention claims priority to U.S. provisional patent applicationSer. No. 62/692,294, filed Jun. 29, 2018 and entitled “Body MountedCamera System for Monitoring Deliveries”, which is incorporated hereinin its entirety by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The technical field generally relates to home delivery security. Moreparticularly, the technical field relates to systems and methods forrecording a delivery of goods to a customer's home.

BACKGROUND

As the number of online purchases continues to grow in popularity, therehas been a corresponding increase in delivery services. The homedelivery of goods involves a delivery driver or other agent of theretail establishment to enter the recipient's property and to place thegoods on a doorstep, garage, lock box, or other location in proximity tothe house for depositing a package.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In one aspect, a delivery monitoring system comprises a portable camerapositioned on a delivery person; a camera activation applicationexecuted by a mobile electronic device to control a video-generatingoperation of the portable camera; and a special-purpose processor thatoutputs a data instruction to an electronic locking device to unlock anentrance to a location for delivering an item by the delivery persononly when the portable camera is recording video.

In another aspect, a method for security during a delivery operationcomprises activating a portable camera to generate video during thedelivery operation; establishing a network connection between the cameraand a storage device for uploading the video; and unlocking an entranceto a location for delivering an item during the delivery operation inresponse to a determination that a video stream is initiated between theportable camera and the storage device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and further aspects of examples of the present inventiveconcepts may be better understood by referring to the followingdescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which likenumerals indicate like structural elements and features in variousfigures. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis insteadbeing placed upon illustrating the principles of features andimplementations.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an environment in which embodiments ofthe present inventive concepts can be practiced.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system for home delivery security, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method for monitoring deliveries, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method for home security after a delivery,in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for exception handling in adelivery monitoring system, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a screenshot of a user interface of a computer display, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a view of an interior of a body mounted camera, whichillustrates an arrangement of electronic components of the camera, inaccordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As delivery services increase in popularity, users desire for goodspurchased via online e-commerce transactions to be delivered to alocation that is safe from theft, undesirable environmental conditions,or risks of burglary or other crimes when a personal delivery is made tothe home, business, or other selected location. Many users would permita delivery person to enter their homes to deliver packages, even in theabsence of a personal recipient of the delivery, but only if acceptablesecurity protocols were implemented to reduce or eliminate such risks.

In brief overview, embodiments of the present inventive concepts includea body camera that streams video over a network while simultaneouslystoring a copy of the video on the body camera's disk, for example, as astored or archived electronic copy of the video. The archived video maybe of a higher quality than the live stream. The body camera alwaysrecords video locally, regardless of whether an exception orcommunication-related interruption occurs during video streaming of thenetwork. The archived video is later uploaded to a cloud hosted filestorage. A software application executed at a customer's mobileelectronic device such as a smartphone can play the archived video onceit has been uploaded successfully. This will permit customers remotefrom their homes to monitor in real-time or near real-time and/or reviewstored video of a delivery of an item to the customers' homes forpurposes of security or other reasons.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an environment in which embodiments ofthe present inventive concepts can be practiced. As shown in FIGS. 1 and2, a delivery monitoring system 10 includes a wearable camera 22, acamera activation application executed by a mobile electronic device 30.In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 1, the delivery monitoring system10 may include or otherwise provide data communications with one or moreof a WiFi network 42, an electronic locking device 40, an electronichome device controller 44, and a video server 50, also referred to as amedia server. The system 10 forms a communication link 202 between thecamera 22 and the mobile electronic device 30 so that the softwareapplication when executed by a computer processor in the device 30causes the camera 22 to begin recording when a delivery person 12delivers an item 18 to a customer's home that is programmed with aprogrammable door lock 40 or the like. In some embodiments, a user canactivate the camera 22 directly to begin recording. This feature ofrequiring video to be recording in order to gain entry permits thedelivery person 12 to enter the home in an unattended andsecurity-conscious manner, i.e., no requirement for a home occupant tobe present in the home at the time of delivery.

As shown in FIG. 7, a wearable camera 22 may include a button 702,trigger, or other activation mechanism coupled to a computer element 700such as a circuit board and related electronic and/or electro-mechanicalhardware components surrounded by a housing (not shown) and co-locatedwith other components such as a camera assembly 704. In someembodiments, the button 702 serves as a pairing or reset button or otheractivation mechanism, and when pressed places the camera 22 into apairing mode so that the mobile electronic device 30 can form acommunication link 202 with the camera 22.

In some embodiments, the wearable camera 22 is a body mounted camera,for example, constructed and arranged for mounting to a person's body,more specifically, to a wearer's head, shoulder, chest, clothing, or anyother region of the body that permits the camera 22 to capture frames,video streams, audio, and so on of a field of view in front and/or sidesof the delivery person during a delivery of a package 18 or the like toan intended recipient's designated location. The camera 22 is orientedto capture live video during the delivery. In some embodiments, thecamera 22 is a vest mounted camera.

The wearable camera 22 includes well-known components for capturingimages via a field of view, at least some of which are illustrated inFIG. 7, such as a lens, a circuit that senses light coming from anobject through the lens, a controller that processes received light,automated mechanisms such as exposure and auto-focus adjustmentfunctions, and so on. The wearable camera 22 also includes an I/O devicesuch as a Bluetooth™ wireless interface for establishing a communicationlink 202 with a like I/O interface of the mobile electronic device 30 soas to control the operation of the camera 22, for example, to output asignal that instructs the camera 22 to begin or end recording. In someembodiments, the I/O device may be a WiFi interface. Other wirelessnetwork interfaces may equally apply that are capable of uploadingreal-time or near real-time captured video from the camera 22 to aremote location, such as a video server 50, or a cloud computing networkor the like, for example, a Microsoft Azure cloud computing environment.

In some embodiments, the mobile electronic device 30 may be asmartphone, laptop computer, electronic notebook, or other personalcomputing device. Accordingly, the mobile electronic device 30 has adisplay and a user interface. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a userinterface 600. In addition, the mobile electronic device 30 includes atleast one hardware computer processor 32, a memory 34 comprising aplurality of functionality modules, and a data storage 36. The userinterface allows the mobile electronic device 30 to create, view andedit the contents of the various modules, databases, or other datastorage devices. A number of software functionality modules forimplementing delivery functions may be stored in the program memory 34and executed by the processor 32 on the mobile electronic device 30.Some or all of these functionality modules 24-27 may be executed by themobile electronic device 30, or executed by a remote computer incommunication with the remote electronic device 30, the camera 22,and/or other electronic devices of system such as an electronic homedevice controller 44 described herein.

One such functionality module includes a camera activation application24 that communicates with the wearable camera 22 via a communicationlink 202 such as Bluetooth™ or related network communication exchange.

Another functionality module may include a location module 25, whichreceives and processes global positioning satellite (GPS) verificationdata or the like related to a location of the mobile electronic device30, for example, by communicating with a GPS network, WiFi networkdevice, geofence, or other location technology.

Another functionality module may include a credential module 26 thatrequests WiFi credentials and/or other authorization-related data fromthe location-based WiFi network 42, for example, to establish acommunication path for a camera video feed taken during a deliveryoperation. In some embodiments, the WiFi credential module 26 includes aWiFi detection module that generates a signal when WiFi detection ispresent, which is used by the system to determine whether to activatethe camera 22 to begin capturing a video feed, and/or to determinewhether to stop a video feed when a WiFi signal is not detected, or nolonger detected during a delivery operation.

Another functionality module may include a video monitoring module 27that determines when the camera 22 is activated and generating video andcommunicates electronically with the electronic home device controller44 and/or electronic locking device 40 to unlock the electronic lockingdevice 40 only when it is established that the camera 22 is recordingand the delivery person is a predetermined distance from the door orentrance to the building where the delivery is to be made. In someembodiments, the video monitoring module 27 determines whether theintegrity of a network connection is sufficient for transmitting a videostream to the video server 50. For example, the video monitoring module27 may receive data indicating that the quality of the WiFi networkconnection 204A, 206A shown in FIG. 2 is poor and prone to blackouts orundesirable WiFi-related errors. Here, the video monitoring module 27may output a command to the camera 22 to direct the video stream to thevideo server 50 via a different network connection, or to a differentstorage device via an LTE hotspot.

Another functionality module may be executed by a special purposecomputer hardware processor that verifies if a smart lock 40 issuccessfully locked or unlocked after a command is generated andreceived for locking or unlocking the door. This functionality modulemay be executed and stored at a computer server or the like that is incommunication with the mobile electronic device 30 and/or other computerelements of the system. Related features of such functionality modulesmay include the computer server verifying that the lock was successfullyunlocked or if any issues arise with unlocking an electronic lockingdevice 40.

The data storage 36 may include one or more databases or the like thatstore relevant data for performing home delivery security functions, inaccordance with some embodiments. Such data can be accessed by thewearable camera 22, the processor 32, the program memory 34, and/or by aremote computer over a network such as the Internet. Although a datastorage 36 is shown as part of a computer, a data storage device 36 mayin some embodiments be remote from the computer, for example, located ina cloud or other remote location, and in communication with theprocessor 32 and memory 34 via direct connection or a network.

After the wearable camera 22 is activated by the mobile electronicdevice 30, the camera 22 can be used to capture video of a deliveryoperation, for example, when the delivery person approaches a home of arecipient of a package 18, enters the home, delivers the package 18 inthe home, and exits the home. In some embodiments, the delivery personin possession of both the camera 22 and mobile electronic device 30 is apredetermined distance from the home, at which point the home's WiFinetwork may detect the mobile electronic device 30 for triggering thestart of a live capture by the camera 22. In some embodiments, thecamera 22 is activated when it is a predetermined distance from the doorof the structure where the item(s) are to be delivered. The capturedvideo can be uploaded to a video server 50 or the like by a WiFi network42 (shown by paths 204A and 206A) or a long term evolution (LTE) hotspotor other cellular network 43 (shown by paths 204B and 206B). In someembodiments, the video may also be stored locally at the camera 22, forexample, a compressed version of the video stream, a 1080p qualityversion stored on a local flash memory device on the mobile electronicdevice 30, and/or other storage devices. In embodiments where thedelivery person returns to a delivery vehicle and is within range of anLTE hotspot or the like in or proximal the delivery vehicle, the camera22 is constructed and arranged to upload a compressed quality version ofthe video to the video server 50, and replaces a streamed version of thevideo.

In some embodiments, a single data stream is exchanged between thewearable camera 22 and the video server 50 to provide video data forboth a live video stream and a backup video. The data stream is outputto the video server 50 during an item delivery operation, for example,by the delivery person 12. Here, captured video can be simultaneouslystored locally at the camera 22, for example, a compressed version ofthe video stream, a 1080p quality version stored on a local flash memorydevice on the mobile electronic device 30, and/or other storage device.Here, the video server 50 can provide to the customer requesting a copyof video of some or all of a particular delivery a highest possiblequality segment selected from a plurality of segments. After allhigh-quality segments have been uploaded, for example, for a givendelivery operation, the backup video can be processed for availabilityto the customer.

The WiFi network 42 may include other electronic devices, such as smartdevices, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, for establishing datacommunications therebetween. One such smart device may include anelectronic locking device 40 and am electronic home device controller44, also referred to as a smart hub, which controls the smart devicessuch as the electronic locking device 40, both of which can be exchangedata via the WiFi network 42 and/or other data communications network ordirect connection. During a delivery, the delivery person's mobileelectronic device 30 can be used to unlock the electronic locking device40 (via data paths 208, 210). As described herein, the electroniclocking device 40 only unlocks the door or other entry barrier when thesystem determines that the camera 22 is activated to generate video. Inother embodiments, a requirement for unlocking the door is to determinethat the video server 50 has received a source of the generated video.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method 300 for monitoring deliveries, inaccordance with some embodiments. One embodiment of the method 300 maybe implemented by incorporating some or all of the computing devices ofFIGS. 1 and 2.

At block 302, the camera activation application 24 is executed by themobile electronic device 30. In particular, a delivery person 12approaches a home, commercial building, or other location designated toreceive a package including an item 18 or related order for delivery.The delivery person 12 includes in possession a wearable camera 22, amobile electronic device 30, and the ordered item 18 as the deliveryperson 12 approaches the location of interest. In some embodiments, thelocation of interest is a home or business or other building having adoor configured with a lock. In some embodiments, the delivery locationmay be a lockbox or other container configured with a security lock orthe like that is controlled electronically by the smart hub 44 or otherprogrammable apparatus.

At or near the front door of the home or other location of interest, thedelivery person 12 may initiate an operation performed by the cameraactivation application 24. For example, the camera activationapplication 24 may display at a user interface of the mobile electronicdevice 30 a display button, icon, or other selectable element thatpermits a user to initiate a delivery operation from a touchscreen orother computer peripheral device. For example, a “begin delivery” buttonmay be displayed for selection, but is only displayed if the locationmodule 25 confirms a GPS verification and that the delivery is beingattempted within a predetermined time period. The time period can beestablished by estimating the time expected for the delivery person toarrive at the delivery location, for example, based on historical data,navigation tools, or other time generating application. In this example,the predetermined time can be compared to the actual arrival time, andif the actual arrival time is determined to be greater than thepredetermined time, the button is not displayed. Similarly, the buttonis not displayed if the GPS verification is not confirmed.

At block 304, the WiFi credential processor 26 of the mobile electronicdevice 30 may request customer WiFi credentials such as network name,password, encryption data, and so on from a WiFi network device, such asa WiFi server that is part of the local WiFi network 42. In someembodiments, the delivery location does not have a WiFi network. Here,the method 300 proceeds directly to block 306.

At block 306, in some embodiments, the camera activation application 24connects with the camera 22 via a Bluetooth™ connection or the like. Indoing so, the WiFi credentials (if available) are output from the mobileelectronic device 30 to the camera 22. Other embodiments may include anyknown network connection, such as WiFi, mobile hotspot, or the likeexecuted by the mobile electronic device, e.g., a smartphone or thelike. The requisite credentials can be transferred from the mobileelectronic device 30, or other computer used as part of the method usingBluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Long Term Evolution (LTE), or other networkdevice and associated protocols supported by the mobile electronicdevice 30 and/or wearable camera 22.

At decision diamond 308, a determination is made whether the camera 22can connect to the WiFi network 42. If yes, then the method 300 proceedsto block 310, where captured video is streamed through the WiFi network42 to a video server 50 or other storage device. However, if at decisiondiamond 308 a determination is made that a WiFi network is not availableor that the camera 22 cannot connect with the WiFi network 42, then themethod 300 proceeds to block 312, where another network such as an LTEnetwork is used to stream the captured video.

At block 314, after the video server 50 confirms that the video streamhas been initiated, the smart door lock or related electronic lockingdevice 40 is automatically unlocked. Here, the mobile electronic device30 may output a command to unlock the door. The command is received bythe smart hub 44, which in response controls the electronic lockingdevice 40. In some embodiments, security data such as passwords,credentials, and so on are programmed at the mobile electronic device 30prior to delivery. In some embodiments, the locking device 40 is lockedor unlocked by a command signal output from the mobile electronic device30, which is processed by a server, which in some embodiments is thevideo server 50, and which in turn processes the command, for example,by approving a door unlock, and outputs the authorized command to thesmart hub 44, which communicates with the locking device 40 via a z-waveprotocol or the like to unlock the locking device 40. Such security datamay be available for processing by the delivery person's mobileelectronic device 30 with prior authorization by the home owner or otherauthorized user, which allows the mobile electronic device 30 to be usedto unlock the door in order to deliver the package 18.

At block 316, the package 18 is delivered after the delivery person isgranted access to the predetermined delivery location, e.g., therecipient's home or lockbox.

Referring again to FIG. 6, a “begin delivery” button, icon or the likemay be displayed at the user interface 600, which when activatedinitiates a delivery process, including the establishment of thecommunication link 202, e.g., Bluetooth™ connection with the mobileelectronic device 30, for example, displaying the user interface 600,and the camera 22. In addition, the selection of the “begin delivery”button initiates a WiFi connection (if appropriate) between the camera22 and a video server 50, also referred to as a streaming server, orrelated storage device in communication with the WiFi network 42,followed by the start of video recording by the camera 22, which caninclude at least one of a live video stream established with the videoserver 50 and/or local storage of the recorded video.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method 400 for home security after adelivery, in accordance with some embodiments. One embodiment of themethod 400 may be implemented by incorporating some or all of thecomputing devices of FIGS. 1 and 2. In some embodiments, the method 400is initiated after block 316 of the method 300 described with respect toFIG. 3.

At block 402, the delivery person exits the home or other location wherea package is delivered.

At block 404, the door is locked after the delivery person exits thehome. In some embodiments, the smart door lock or related electroniclocking device 40 is automatically locked in response to the mobileelectronic device 30 outputting a command to the smart hub 44 ordirectly to the electronic locking device 40 to lock the door, forexample, after the delivery is complete and the delivery associate hasexited the home. Various sensors, location detection devices, or thelike can communicate with the camera and/or other electronic mobiledevice of the delivery person, such as a GPS device, to determine thelocation of the delivery person relative to the home or other deliverylocation. In doing so, the delivery monitoring system 10 canautomatically stop the operation of the camera and/or cease thecollection, streaming, and/or other output of video captured during thedelivery.

Prior to the foregoing, the delivery person may execute a deliveryapplication displayed on the mobile electronic device, for example,shown in FIG. 6. The delivery application may be executed to lock thedoor before the application will allow the delivery person to end thedelivery operation, and proceed with another task such as a newdelivery. The events may be similar as a door unlocking operationdescribed in the method 300 of FIG. 3. In particular, in unlocking, theapplication outputs a command signal via the video server 50 and/orother intervening computer device to the smart hub 44, which in turnprocesses the command signal for verification and so on, and the hubsends a command using the z-wave protocol to the locking device 40. Thelocking device 40 may process the command and generate a response whichinclude a confirmation, error message, or other data that may bereceived by the server and processed accordingly.

At block 406, the delivery person can select a button, icon, or the likedisplayed on the mobile electronic device application, which indicatesthat the delivery operation has ended, and for the camera 22 to ceasegenerating live video feeds. If the door is determined not to besecured, for example, by sensors or the like, then the application willnot allow the delivery associate to select the delivery terminationbutton. For example, the application may not display such a button,icon, or the like if the door is not locked.

At block 408, the communication link 202 between the camera 22 and themobile electronic device 30 is disconnected.

At block 410, the WiFi credentials collected at block 304 are deleted.

In some embodiments, all videos generated before, during, and after thedelivery operation are uploaded to the video server 50. The generatedvideos may be high quality, for example, 1080p, or of a lower quality.As described herein, the videos may be stored locally, then stored, orthe videos may be streamed to a separate storage location. In othercases, the video may be generated at a high quality, but stored and/ortransferred to a storage location at a lower quality due to a conversionprocessor in the camera 22 or coupled to the camera 22 in situationswhere the network is not feasible or otherwise capable of transmittinghigh quality video.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method 500 for exception handling in adelivery monitoring system, in accordance with some embodiments. Oneembodiment of the method 500 may be implemented by incorporating some orall of the computing devices of FIGS. 1 and 2. In some embodiments, themethod 500 is initiated at block 502 when a video stream failure isdetected, WiFi deadzones are present, and/or portions of the videostream are blacked out. If a network connection is lost during adelivery operation where the recorded video cannot be streamed to thevideo server 50, then a backup storage path may be formed from thecamera 22 to a local storage device.

At block 504, a notification signal is generated, for example, by thecamera activation application 24 to the camera 22 via the communicationlink 202, or by a special-purpose processor in the camera 22, that, inresponse a detection of no WiFi signal, adds a notification to the videofeed and instructs the camera 22 to continue record.

At block 506, the captured video is stored locally instead of beingoutput to the video server 50. In some embodiments, the captured videois stored as a different location than via WiFi to the video server 50,for example, streamed in a low-quality format to the delivery person'svehicle, which may include a storage device for temporarily storing thevideo in the absence of a WiFi signal. Here, a low-resolution videostream is generated, for example, changed from a high-resolution tolow-resolution. For example, the delivery vehicle may have a dedicatedLTE hotspot to which the camera 22 can automatically connect in order toestablish an internet connection over which the low-resolution video canbe uploaded to the video server 50. At block 508, the video may bearchived.

In some embodiments, the locally stored video is automatically output tothe video server 50 along with the notification when a WiFi signal isdetected and WiFi communications resume. In embodiments where thedelivery person returns to a delivery vehicle and is within range of anLTE hotspot or the like in or proximal the delivery vehicle, the camera22 is constructed and arranged to uploaded a compressed quality versionof the video to the video server 50, and replaces a streamed version ofthe video.

A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it willbe understood that the foregoing description is intended to illustrate,and not to limit, the scope of the inventive concepts which are definedby the scope of the claims. Other examples are within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A delivery monitoring system, comprising: amobile electronic device communicatively coupled to a portable cameraassociated with a delivery person so that the mobile electronic deviceforms a communication link with the portable camera, the mobileelectronic device receiving delivery instructions for delivery of afirst item to a first location and delivery of a second item to a secondlocation, the first location and the second location being physicallydifferent; a camera activation application executed by the mobileelectronic device physically separate from and in remote control via thecommunication link of the portable camera to control a video-generatingoperation of the portable camera; a credential module executed by themobile electronic device to obtain first credentials from a remote datastorage, the first credentials pertaining to a first location associatedwith the received delivery instructions for the first item; a locationmodule executed by the mobile electronic device to determine a currentlocation of the mobile electronic device; and a video monitoring moduleexecuted by the mobile electronic device to receive an indication fromthe location module that the current location is the first locationassociated with the received delivery instructions, identify theportable camera is activated and generating video, and communicate witha special-purpose processor to output a data instruction to a firstelectronic locking device to unlock an entrance to the first location inresponse to the video monitoring module establishing that the portablecamera is actively recording the video and the delivery person and theportable camera are within a predetermined distance from the entrancehaving the first electronic locking device where the delivery of thefirst item is to be made.
 2. The delivery monitoring system of claim 1,wherein the portable camera includes a body mounted camera.
 3. Thedelivery monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the camera activationapplication executed by the mobile electronic device communicates withan activation mechanism of the portable camera to trigger the portablecamera to begin the video-generating operation in response to adetermination that the mobile electronic device is within thepredetermined distance from the electronic locking device.
 4. Thedelivery monitoring system of claim 3, the location module executed bythe mobile electronic device receives and processes global positioningsatellite (GPS) verification data that provides the current location ofthe mobile electronic device.
 5. The delivery monitoring system of claim1, further comprising: a wireless fidelity (WiFi) credential moduleexecuted by the mobile electronic device that requests credentials froma location-based WiFi network to establish a communication path for atleast a portion of the generated video.
 6. The delivery monitoringsystem of claim 1, wherein the video monitoring module determines acommunication path from the portable camera to a video storage device.7. The delivery monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the mobileelectronic device is in communication with a special purpose computerhardware processor that verifies whether the electronic locking deviceis unlocked in response to receiving the data instruction.
 8. Thedelivery monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the mobile electronicdevice communicates with a remote data storage via a network to obtainstored data for performing home delivery security functions.
 9. Thedelivery monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the portable camera andthe mobile electronic device each includes a network interface thatpermits an exchange of credential data from the mobile electronic deviceto the portable camera.
 10. A method for security during a deliveryoperation, the method comprising: determining, by a mobile electronicdevice, whether the mobile electronic device is within a predetermineddistance from an entrance having an electronic locking device, theentrance associated with an instructed delivery of an item; responsiveto determining that the mobile electronic device is within thepredetermined distance, sending an activation command to a portablecamera to control video-generation operations during the deliveryoperation, the portable camera including an activation mechanism thatreceives the activation command and places the portable camera in apairing mode with the mobile electronic device so that the mobileelectronic device forms a communication link with the portable camera;obtaining credentials from a remote data storage pertaining to theinstructed delivery and the entrance having the electronic lockingdevice; establishing a network connection between the portable cameraand a video storage device for uploading a generated video based on theobtained credentials; determining that the portable camera is activelyrecording to generate the generated video and uploading to the videostorage device; and responsive to a determination that the portablecamera is actively recording and uploading the generated video to thevideo storage device, sending an unlock command to a special-purposeprocessor associated with the electronic locking device to controlunlocking the entrance to a location associated with the instructeddelivery of the item.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the video isgenerated before, during, and after the delivery operation.
 12. Themethod of claim 10, further comprising: determining whether a deliveryperson associated with the delivery operation has exited the location;responsive to determining that the delivery person has exited, sending alocking command to the special-purpose processor associated with theelectronic device to control locking the entrance; receiving a responsefrom the special-purpose processor associated with the electroniclocking device; and responsive to the received response confirming alocked state of the electronic locking device, sending a deactivationcommand to the portable camera to stop recording the video and deletingnetwork credentials required for establishing the network connection tocomplete the delivery operation.
 13. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: determining a failure of a video stream established by thenetwork connection; and automatically uploading the generated video toan alternative storage location in response to the determination of thefailure.
 14. The method of claim 10, further comprising: a datacommunication path between the portable camera and a media server thatincludes a single data stream that provides both live video data andbackup video data.
 15. An apparatus for secure delivery, the apparatuscomprising: a user interface; a memory; and a processor communicativelycoupled to the processor and configured to: determine whether theapparatus is within a predetermined distance from an entrance having anelectronic locking device, the entrance associated with a locationcorresponding to an instructed delivery of an item; responsive todetermining that the apparatus is within the predetermined distance,send an activation command to a portable camera to controlvideo-generation operations during the secure delivery, the portablecamera including an activation mechanism that receives the activationcommand and places the portable camera in a pairing mode with theapparatus so that the apparatus forms a communication link with theportable camera; obtain credentials from a remote data storagepertaining to the instructed delivery and the entrance having theelectronic locking device; establish a network connection between theportable camera and a video storage device for uploading a generatedvideo based on the obtained credentials; determine whether the portablecamera is actively recording to generate the generated video anduploading the generated video to the video storage device; andresponsive to a determination that the portable camera is activelyrecording and uploading the generated video to the video storage device,send an unlock command to a special-purpose processor associated withthe electronic locking device to control unlocking the entrance to thelocation corresponding to the instructed delivery of the item.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 15, wherein the process is further configured to:determine whether a delivery person associated with the secure deliveryhas exited the location; responsive to determining that the deliveryperson has exited, send a locking command to the special-purposeprocessor associated with the electronic device to control locking theentrance; receive a response from the special-purpose processorassociated with the electronic locking device; and responsive to thereceived response confirming a locked state of the electronic lockingdevice, send a deactivation command to the portable camera to stoprecording the video and delete network credentials required forestablishing the network connection to complete the secure delivery. 17.The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the process is further configured to:determine a failure of a video stream established by the networkconnection; and automatically upload the generated video to analternative storage location in response to the determination of thefailure.
 18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the process is furtherconfigured to: upload a compressed version of the generated video to thevideo storage device to replace a streamed version of the generatedvideo.
 19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor determiningwhether the portable camera is actively recording to generate thegenerated video and uploading the generated video to the video storagedevice further comprises the processor receiving confirmation from thevideo storage device that the video storage device is receiving thegenerated video from the portable camera.
 20. The delivery monitoringsystem of claim 1, further comprising: the credential module executed bythe mobile electronic device to obtain second credentials from theremote data storage, the second credentials pertaining to a secondlocation associated with the received delivery instructions for thesecond item; and the video monitoring module executed by the mobileelectronic device to receive an indication from the location module thatthe current location is the second location, identify the portablecamera is activated and generating another video, and communicate withthe special-purpose processor to output another data instruction to asecond electronic locking device to unlock another entrance to a secondlocation in response to the video monitoring module establishing thatthe portable camera is actively recording the other video and thedelivery person and the portable camera are within the predetermineddistance from the other entrance having the second electronic lockingdevice where the delivery of the second item is to be made.